You look great in green, Donny, but I think the chicken hat gives you a certain rakishness that's hard to ignore.

Ian

Ian

Ian, from day one..Roland has marketed the G series as a Pro keyboard, and not a home buyer keyboard...starting with the G800..

You can go back and look at any publication Roland produced ..

Well, Yamaha did (in the beginning) market Tyros as a "professional instrument".

Yamahas' flagship.

One of their own people told me that and convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had every advanced feature that Yamaha had ever developed. Way beyond the PSR9000 he glowingly stated, as I recall. In fact I immediately ordered one based on the conversation. I waited several months at least for it to be released. Once it hit the market the proverbial stuff soon hit the fan. Anyone else remember some of the problems? Wasn't very long before they raised their sights a little lower and it did seem to become the premier home instrument. And that thing was soon history.


[This message has been edited by pianodano (edited 08-27-2007).]

Hi Fran
You are probably right in the US, but in pretty much the rest of the world the G series (Like all arrangers) was marketed to the home user.
Thinking back, if I remember correctly, you did mention in a post some time ago that the G70 was first launched and marketed by the Pro division, but sales were that poor (Apparently the demonstrators didn’t know what to do with it) that they eventually passed it over to the ordinary division.
Whichever way, from what I remember, the G70 sales took off as soon as they stopped trying to market it as a pro instrument.
I am not sure about the last couple of points (Memory has a habit of distorting things) but the first part is correct.
Regards

Bill

Fran,

My Roland buddy tells me the G70 and G1000 were sold in the home section of the music store along with digital pianos and arrangers...didn't sell well when it was promoted as a "pro" instrument.

Sales overall for both instruments in my area were very low in comparison to the high end PSR and Tyros1/Tyros2.

Perhaps the area where you live had a different experience, but that's how it was here in Eastern Canada.

Ian

the only place u see a Roland G70 here is in shops that sell PSRs and other portable arranger keyboards.

although there is a band store "the guitar factory" which sells all sorts of pro band equipment including Synths (where I purchased my Motif XS) that also stocks Tyros 2s - the only arranger in the entire shop.

Nick

Strangely enough, Yamaha (the ones supposedly selling exclusively to the home user) are the ones that allow the same dealer to stock Motifs AND Tyros's, whereas Roland (apparently the supposed 'pro' keyboard) restricted the sales of the G and E series to Mom and Pop piano and organ dealers, where understandably, they languished in sales compared to the G1000s, etc., that were marketed through regular music dealers...

Roland have made a major marketing blunder since the G70 first came out, firstly, of putting these complex and expensive arrangers exclusively in the hands of a type of dealer that a) usually has NO technically minded staff, and b) is really only interested in selling pianos, with their huge profit margins and commissions to the salesmen.

They THEN compounded this blunder by giving these piano dealers (they mostly handle KR and Atelier Roland products) complete regional exclusivity, and forbidding ANY internet sales, or advertising outside their area. And then to really put the coup de grace on their chances, they did not insist that these stores even stock the product....!

If you can think of a better way to sabotage any product's chances of success, you let me know... (other than rushing it into production before the OS is ready! But that isn't exactly a Roland exclusive, these days )

Only recently have the G70's been demoted/promoted (depends on your viewpoint!) to the regular MI Roland dealers, where they CAN share shelf space with Fantoms, etc.. Not that many dealers still do... (mind you, that problem isn't exactly just a Roland thing ). But that is why you DO see a few more G70s out there, these days. The MI dealers (Guitar Center outsourced quite a few, if I remember rightly) immediately dropped the price nearly a grand (and I don't believe the dealer price changed) and FINALLY put the G70 at a price point that was FAR more reflective of it's capabilities, and way more competitive. And the fact that many have moved to one since those price drops (initially, street price US was @$3500, now they can be found for @$2700), just shows what a boneheaded marketing decision they initially made...

But I still find it strange that T2s and PSRs can be found in 'pro' dealers, whereas E80's can not... Where's the logic in this, if you subscribe to the theory that Yamaha are focussed exclusively on the 'home' user, and Roland are going for the 'pros'?

Biggest problem for arranger sales, in my opinion, is lack of staff ability to properly demo.

In my territory, which is all Atlantic Canada, and covers 26 stores, I can think of only 5 staff members who can truly demo an arranger and answer followup questions.

Of course, this keeps my job secure, but I can't be everywhere at once, especially now with being on disability, and there's only so much I can do on-line.

In their defence, a salesperson's biggest problem is the myriad of OS...each manufacture being a little(or a lot) different, so they have a daunting task ahead of them, especially if they are selling other products( guitars, amps, effects, PA gear) which often happens in the smaller stores.

Many keyboard salespeople are piano players or keyboardists(synths etc) and using auto accompaniment is foreign to them, because either they can't keep their left hand still, or they can't form or voice chords properly for the instrument to respond properly.

Transient staff make it even more difficult.

Although sales in my area are good...they could always be better.

Ian

To be honest, Ian, I think the majority of keyboard staff in most stores other than major cities have as little clue about the intricacies of any of the major workstations, as they do arrangers...

And, short of an already knowledgeable arranger user, you don't really have to do much to impress most potential buyers than call up a few good styles and lead sounds, hold the chords down and play a nice melody, hit the fills, and a big ending, and the sale is made...! I honestly think for most store duffers, this is easier than trying to explain arpeggio mode in a Motif!

If they can't do this simple musical task, they probably can't demo a workstation any good, either. The trouble is, who does a store hire? The nerd who might actually be able to remember all the differences between OSs, or a salesman who has the skills to close the sale (but not the skills to demo the arranger)...? Both are just about as bad.

It is, just for the life of me, I can't understand why demoing a MotifXS is any easier than demoing an arranger...

It's okay, buddy, you may catch on sooner or later...it's not important.

Ian